Louisville rallies past Cal in women's Final Four

No. 5 Cardinals are lowest seed to ever reach NCAA final

NEW ORLEANS -- Make that three straight upsets for Louisville, whose latest thriller landed the Cardinals back in the women's national championship game for the first time since 2009.

Antonita Slaughter scored 18 points on six 3-pointers and Louisville clawed back from a 10-point halftime deficit to defeat California 64-57 in the national semifinals Sunday night. Bria Smith scored 17 on 6 of 7 shooting for the Cardinals (29-8), who were a No. 5 seed and became the first team seeded worse than fourth to win a Final Four game.

"I can't even put into words how proud I am," Louisville coach Jeff Walz said. "I told the kids they're stuck with me in practice for one more day."

The result ensures an all-Big East Conference final in the league's last season in its current form, with Louisville meeting the winner of the other semifinal between Notre Dame and Connecticut on Tuesday night -- one night after the Louisville men's team plays Michigan for the championship.

"Right now anything can happen," Walz said. "Why not us?"

Layshia Clarendon scored 17 for Cal (32-4), which had won the Spokane Region as a second seed. Gennifer Brandon added 12 for the Golden Bears and Brittany Boyd added 10 points.

"Credit Louisville, which obviously has been really hot," Cal coach Lindsay Gottlieb said. "They outfought us in the second half.

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Louisville had to beat defending national champion Baylor and Southeastern Conference power Tennessee just to get to New Orleans, and will need to summon one more upset to win it all. Not that they're worried about it.

"No one expects us to be here," Slaughter said. "No one expects us to be in the championship game. Just come together as a team and win as a team."

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